May 20 Minor League Report/May 21 Preview

The Blue Jays beat the Red Sox (always satisfying) and Rob Rasmussen made his major league debut for the Jays in the 7-4 victory at Fenway, one of my favourite places to watch baseball. What happened in the minor leagues? Read on!

Buffalo Bisons 2, Lehigh Valley IronPigs 3

Marcus Stroman returned to a starting role and returned to Buffalo as the Bisons dropped the final game of their set with Lehigh Valley 3-2. Stroman was very good through most of his five innings but allowed a couple of runners on and gave up a home run to leave the game with a three-spot on the board. His final line was still solid with 5 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 1 BB and 5 K. Austin Bibens-Dirkx provided three shutout innings and Bobby Korecky finished it out with a scoreless one of his one. The batters were fairly quiet with six hits on the game including doubles by Brad Glenn, Jack Murphy and Munenori Kawasaki. Glenn had another single and a walk.

Player of the Game: Brad Glenn and Austin Bibens-Dirkx

New Hampshire Fisher Cats 3, Reading Fightin’ Phils 4

The Fisher Cats are snake bitten this season, losing another close game, this time in 12 innings. Deck McGuire was squaring off against one of the Phillies’ top prospects in Jesse Biddle and was more than his equal: McGuire went eight strong innings, allowing only one run on four hits and two walks while striking out nine. Tony Davis blew a save, allowing a run on three hits and three walks while Blake McFarland surrendered two runs in the 12th to take the loss. On the offensive side, the club’s 11 hits, including Gabe Jacobo‘s single and home run couldn’t get the job done. Jon Berti went 3/6 and Andy Burns was 2/3 with a double and a walk.

Player of the Game: Deck McGuire and Gabe Jacobo

Dunedin Blue Jays 2, Fort Myers Miracle 7

The D-Jays took a rare loss to the Fort Myers Miracle, one of the stronger teams in the Florida State League but still had some strong performances along the way. Dalton Pompey continues to show more power from the right side of the plate, taking Matt Tomshaw deep in the fourth inning for his fourth home run (three have come hitting right-handed). Derrick Chung added two hits including his second home run of the season. Jesse Hernandez started, went six innings and was charged with all seven runs (five earned) and Justin Jackson and Arik Sikula combined for three scoreless inning to finish the game.

Derrick Chung

Player of the Game: Derrick Chung and Dalton Pompey

Lansing Lugnuts 7, Bowling Green Hot Rods 4

The Lansing Lugnuts rallied after being held off the board for the first four innings and squared up their record again at 22-22 with a 7-4 win. Three players drove the offense: Derrick Loveless went 3/4 with a triple and scored twice, Justin Atkinson ran his batting average to .330 thanks to a 4/4 game and Dawel Lugo went 3/4 and scored twice. Both Jason Leblebijian and Dickey Joe Thon drove in a pair of runs but only had one hit between them. On the mound, Chase De Jong was strong again, allowing two runs over five innings with six hits and no walks and three strikeouts. Roberto Espinosa allowed a run in two innings while Brady Dragmire gave up one in his inning. Scott Silverstein earned his fourth save with a clean inning.

Dawel Lugo

Player of the Game: Derrick Loveless, Justin Atkinson and Dawel Lugo

May 21 Preview

Buffalo Bisons (23-19): Scheduled Off Day

New Hampshire Fisher Cats (15-29)

The sliding Fisher Cats take on the Reading Fightin’ Phils at 6:35 PM ET on MiLB TV with Scott Copeland going against Mike Nesseth. Copeland has been solid with a 3.71 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP in 43 2/3 innings while Nesseth has struggled, combining for an 8.23 ERA in 11 appearances split between Double-A Reading and Triple-A Lehigh Valley.

Dunedin Blue Jays (31-13)

The D-Jays send their ace Daniel Norris to the hill to face the tough Fort Myers Miracle at 6:30 PM. Norris has been outstanding in 2014, throwing 40 innings and allowing just four earned runs for a 0.90 ERA while allowing just 29 hits and 11 walks (1.00 WHIP) and striking out 48. His opponent, David Hurlbut is a 23-year-old lefty who has also been dominant (although in a different way) in his first full season in Fort Myers, posting a 1.62 ERA in 39 innings but with only 13 strikeouts and eight walks.

Lansing Lugnuts (22-22)

Alonzo Gonzalez

The Lansing Lugnuts look to go over the .500 mark with big lefty Alonzo Gonzalez on the hill. Gonzalez is 22 and has a 6.95 ERA in 22 innings, all out of the bullpen so far this year but there have been times in which Gonzalez has been very effective, including a May 4 appearance in which he threw three shutout, one-hit, one-walk innings with five strikeouts. He faces German Marquez of the Bowling Green Hot Rods who is 1-2 with a 3.00 ERA in 30 innings, walking 12 and striking out 20. This is an early game at 10:35 AM ET.